@@FarmerHotdog Sure, but requiring authorization for things, and potentially collecting my data, including prints, and possibly selling it is terrible, which is why I got an Ender 3 Pro since it is open source
@@VSS-Vintorez Potentially being the operative word. The security issues are real but the developments are worth keeping an eye on. Bambu stands to lose a ton of business if they don't keep customers happy.
Same story as me....started with an Ender 3 v2 and what you explained is spot on how I felt! Got my Bambu P1S/AMS Combo over Christmas and its like....my life...has been revolutionized!
Your comparing apples with bananas though! Which year was the Ender 3 and why didn't you get a 800 bucks Prusa MK3 back then? And now the "revolution" is not because of Bambu, it's because of tech advanced very quick. *A Creality K1c or a Anycubic Kobra 3 with ACE would have been a similar step in 3D printing!*
Well, ive now changed my mind. No company is going to get away with telling me that I have GOT TO connect my printer to the cloud, Bambu have just shot themselves in the foot BIG TIME! This whole firmware update smacks of leading people down the road of a subscription based user service, I dont mind if they want to offer the option to use it, but from what i can see, this is a slippery slope to giving bambu total control of a product that i own. Back to creality and Rat Rig.
I started with the Ender 3 Pro. Everything was great until one day it started acting up. The frustration built up so much that I decided to switch to the Ender 3 S1. It worked well for 4-5 months, and I even upgraded a bunch of components. It continued to perform well for almost a year. But then... it started failing again. The first layer failed so often that I just couldn’t take it anymore. My frustration boiled over, and I switched to the Creality K1. At first, the K1 worked like magic-everything seemed perfect. Until I realized I couldn’t print larger parts. The print bed started warping so much that anything covering 75% of the build plate just wouldn’t stick. Spending three hours on a print, only for the part to detach from the bed and fail-well, that’s not fun at all. I’d had enough of Creality printers. Now I have the Bambu Lab P1S, and after three months of use, I can confidently say… this printer is perfect. What pushed me to go for the Bambu Lab printer was a video from the TH-cam channel Shop Nation titled "What happens when you run Bambu Lab 3D Printers for 100,000 hours?" Travis’s take on Bambu Lab printers after 100,000 combined printing hours demonstrated their reliability. So far, with the P1S, every print completes without failure. No first-layer issues, no parts coming loose hours into the print process. Looking back, the money I spent on the Ender 3 Pro, S1, and K1-if I’d just gone for a Bambu Lab printer in the first place… you live and learn.
I started way back when with a Thing-O-Matic kit, then when that died, a PrintrBot, then eventually worked my way through the ranks with 3 Enders to finally, FINALLY, getting a Bambu A1 with AMS and now I'm in heaven!
Congrats on the video. Creality needs to stop releasing multiple machines and focus on making one that works well. I'm seeing a lot of people switching to Bambu Lab.
Thanks dude :D Yeah, I feel like they just keep pumping out new printer after new printer, resulting in lots of average printers. If they just focused on one printer, spent a decent amount of time TESTING IT, maybe they could make a come back... One day maybe :P
Nice to see an honest review. I made a mistake, I started with Bambu Lab's A1 Combo, then a P1S. And that's where i messed up. Those printers gave me the false idea that 3D printing was easy and for the most part issue free. SO decided to get the K2 Plus. HUGE mistake. This thing has been issue after issue and Unlike my Bambu's which i can just set and forget. This one I have to constantly be monitoring for errors. This Creality was as wakeup for me to know that not all 3D companies are on equal grounds.
Got to say, bought a Ender KE, first 10 to 20 prints went well and at £289 it was not a bad price...... Then it went pow..... lost the entire hot end to a big old fat blob. Could'nt even buy a new hot end at the time.... And like Layerlab - bought enough parts to all but build a new one. So went and bought a Bambu A1 for the same price as the KE as it was on special... Never going back. Creality's problem is they just amend a existing version with a little upgrade here and there instead of starting from the ground up with the knowledgethey have gained from out in the wild.. In a nut shell don't touch ender.
My first and only printer is a Bambu Lab X1C. I gotta admit its pretty seamless in terms of user experience, the computer and phone app. its all just works. Ive had very few issues with prints so far and have bought and printed upgrades for the machine here and there. That being said I cant speak for other printers but i can certainly recommend a bambu lab any day of the week.
Well .. .that got to be expected from a 1000+ € machine, wasn't it!? Bambu Lab did copy the "Prusa experience" which means a certain seamless experience for which you pay for! Most people won't have the luxury of buying a first 3D printer that is sooo much expensive. So you're very lucky.
Don't get me wrong, I switched from an Ender 3 to a Ender 5 Pro to a Bambu Labs A1, and Bambu Labs is amazing, but I feel like part of it is that you got Creality printers that were made at a bad time. The Ender 3 used to be the best for beginners, but its almost 7 years old and simply isn't and hasn't been (you can usually get them extremely cheap though. At Microcenter you were able to and might still be able to get an Ender 3 Pro for 100, which is cheaper than any somewhat decent printer I know of), and all the old videos are still up saying its the best. The Ender 3 V3 was released around the time Bambu Labs released their printer (the X1C), and Bambu Labs made every company need to step up, but since the Ender 3 V3 was both MUCH cheaper and cost MUCH less, it both didn't have the time to step up or the need to compete with Bambu Labs. The Ender 3 V3 KE was released a little after the A1 Mini, so they probably just wanted to release a slightly better printer, but didn't have the time to make a new one to compete with the A1 Mini, plus it had a bigger build volume, so they had to worry a little less about people who wanted a larger build volume for a not much larger price. I know they are kind of just copying Bambu Labs, but now they've had plenty of time to learn how Bambu made their printers good, so they released the K1C, which still isn't as good as Bambu, but I've heard it's still good and competes or beats most non-Bambu printers. Now later released a bigger K1 printer, which probably was similar to K1C but has a bigger build volume than any Bambu Labs printer. Then they released the K2 Plus with the CFS, which you mentioned, but I've heard better things than you have about them. The K2 Plus is expensive but is supposed to be better than their K1 series, and the CFS is their alternative to the AMS. Again, I've heard good things about it, and obviously not better than the X1C, but that its still really good and it has a bigger build volume than any Bambu Labs printer, so its a pretty good option for people who really want a bigger printer than what Bambu Labs offers. Now they are supposed to release an alternative to the A1 and it will be compatible with their CFS. I don't know how good it will be, but something that will be appealing to a lot of people is that unlike the AMS-Lite, you will be able to combine 4 to get a total of 16 colors on a printer than is cheaper than the AMS (obviously with the 4 CFS it will be more expensive, but the printer itself is cheaper).
It took four months for me to decide whether or not to buy a 3D printer, and that's how long I ended up using to basically discard all brands (including, and mainly, Creality) and stick with Bambu Lab. And I couldn't be happier with my P1S. I'm just glad I didn't have to go through what you went through because I don't know if I would have persevered.
This video evokes resonance. I started with an Ender 3 "Pro". It was punitive garbage and I got rid of it. Creality became a dirty word in this house and I will never buy another of its products. Then I bought a Mingda Magician X which, for some reason, worked ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY for 2 and a half years. Recently the Mingda has gone insane and no longer responds properly despite heroic efforts, so I ordered a Bambu P1S which will be here shortly. I hope it's not one of the bad specimens.
I recently got back into 3D printing and pulled my Voxelab Aquila out of storage, worked flawlessly for the first few prints but now I'm in the same position lol. Literally everything broke at once and I've replaced everything, updated firmware, did a dual z-axis upgrade, upgraded the hotend, new gear feeder, etc... Still printing like ass. I ordered a Bambu Lab A1 mini a few weeks back to try it out since it was so cheap, just waiting for it to arrive. I want my prints to be my projects, not the printer itself. You don't buy a sewing machine to endlessly tinker with the machine and never make anything. You don't buy a regular printer only to have to replace all the parts, fiddle with the settings forever and then never print any pictures or documents. You don't buy a tool to have to constantly be having setbacks on your projects because the tool keeps malfunctioning, it's a waste of time and isn't the point.
Similar story with me as well. I started with artillery and Sovol and while I had no one near as bad of luck as you did, and I did learn a lot, the bambu printer that I have now is a magnitude of order easier , straightforward, more features, and just works.
I had bad experience with Creality machines, the last one I owned was an Ender 5 S1. A print failed causing spaghetti. The printhead got entangled and ripped apart in 2 chunks because the front part with the hot end and the back with the PCB and cooling fan are held together by a tiny aluminium tab 5mm wide. Any engineer with basic degree would have seen this and say "nope that's not gonna work", but Creality mass produced it. I bough a Qidi and had clogging issues until I modified the printhead. Same s*** different logo. The only difference is they respond to emails.
I will do the same when Bambu Lab will present on Russian market. Three month with Ender KE. Replaced noisy hotend fan, burned hotend heater, bed plate scratched by nozzle when CR touch fail.
The funny thing is you’re switching to Bambu just as Creality have finally got their act together. Their latest offering the K2 Plus coupled with Creality Print 6 is excellent. The K2 Plus is quicker than the X1/P1 and every bit as sharp. And of course the added volume. The CFS is actually better than Bambu’s AMS. Up until now I avoided Creality. You couldn’t pay me to use an Ender. I’ve been a Bambu user since day 1 in 2021. But I’m super impressed and pleasantly surprised with my K2 Plus which is basically a bigger, quicker, beefier X1 Carbon.
I just switched from a heavily modded Ender 3 V2 Neo to a P1S. What a game changer!! I sank money into dual Z axis, direct drive printhead, new springs, new bed plates,, etc and still the quality and speed sucked. I did manage to get $150 for the ender on Marketplace though...
Well, a few years ago I bought Ender 3 as my first printer. It's been a rough journey, but I've learned a lot. Changed many small components in the first year of using, and most importantly installed custom firmware with mesh bed-leveling. After that printing quality is stable (although I rarely print nowadays). Back then it was still the best option considering its price.
Honestly I was kind of hating on BL when they first came out. But I had enough of trying to get my Ender 3 and Anycubic Kobra Go to print ASA and got a P1S. It's crazy how well it just works. I've printed more the first few weeks I've had it than the 6 years I've had my Ender 3. Although I do think while the Ender 3s do have fundamental flaws, people just throw parts at it expecting it to be fixed without actually knowing what is wrong with them.
How do you find printing ASA with the P1S? I’m looking at buying one to print car parts but I want to confirm it’s the right one for me before I waste £500 and it not work as I need it to
@@RsTubzey ASA works well on my P1S. But warping on long, tall or full bed length flat parts can be an issue. Doesn't work in a cold room, corners lift, brim or no brim. Have to put the printer in a tempered room, wrap it in a thick blanket, and pre-heat the chamber with the bed at 100oC for at least 30' until the inside temp reaches above 40oC minimum. See BL Forum posts like thermometer-holders-for-temperature-monitoring-in-p1s/54011 for simple remote thermometer. And at the end of the print I have to let everything cool down for sometimes up to 1 hour otherwise the part itself can warp. Ie all that has nothing to do w the printer but with the way the ASA (Elegoo) material behaves. Small parts: no problem, don't need such a process.
It always seems to be a game of Russian roulette with creality printers. A few years back me and a co-worker went in on buying two ender3s at $90 a piece. Mine ran fine right out of the box while his had tons of issues. The controller logic was bad at first, then the thermostat wasn't Reading temperatures correctly at the nozzle, power supply cooked itself and so on and so on... Meanwhile my ender 3 is still going strong. I've printed a bunch of my own upgrades and even slapped on a CR touch bed leveling sensor and a glass bed. My coworker bought a second ender 3 while he was trying to fix the first one and after a year of messing with both of them he had two printers that worked sometimes but never really was able to work at their full potential. He eventually switched to a bambu lab printer
Always had issues with Creality, a couple of them just randomly died on me (cr20 pro and ender 3v2 decided that they wanted new motherboards) ender 3 always had issues with knob miscounting steps, cr20 z axis would constantly glitch out. All Creality cooling fans would randomly start screaming. Much happier with Bambu
I dont know dude... I think I just wanted to keep everything in the Creality eco-system, I understood how the slicer worked, I had used these type of machines for a while, I was afraid of changing and it being the same/worse.
I have the same experience with Creality. I listened to TH-cam and bought the ender 3 v2. 3 Years later, 2 stock Extruders, 3 Sprite Extruders, Dual axis Z, Linear rail, Enclosure I finally have near perfect prints. I now have to relevel my bed after every 5 prints. I have 2 questions for you. 1. Fast printing on the Bambu, how do the corners look? Do they have bulging corners? The ender I have to slow my initial print to 5, then step it up to at most 75 after that, but 35 ms works best. Takes forever to print. 2. Do your corners lift up on the bambu prints? My ender is finally tuned but I still have to print every piece larger than 1 inch with a Brim. Otherwise at least 1 corner will lift mid print.
I bought an Ender 3 v2 about 5 years ago. It worked from day one. I have modified it with dual Z motors. I added a BL Touch and silicone springs and I haven't touched the bed level knobs in years. I used to check the bed mesh once in a while but haven't needed to adjust it so I quit doing that. I also added a direct drive to run TPU. It may be slower than the continental drift, but I can start a print and walk away knowing I'll come back to a completed print. I have no idea how many thousands of hours that little guy has printed. During the recent Christmas sales, I bought an Ender 3 V3 Plus. I have put 120hrs on it so far and not even a hiccup. It's big, it's fast and it works. I don't understand it. According to everyone else, these things should have exploded and burnt my house down by now.
Amazing how many voices have the same expierience, including this one. Ive modded my ender 3 so much its not an ender 3 anymore, but a monster that has been given a tru chance at life. Then i got a p1s and my 3d printing dreams came back to full life. It just works, no tinkering.
I bought my first FDM printer just over 3 months ago. I went for the Bambu A1, due to the great reviews. I had heard stories about how getting FDM printers to properly work was much harder than resin printers, but my A1 has worked (almost) flawlessly each and every time. I decided to buy my next printer and wanted to go core XY, so I could possibly print in a wider variety of materials. I have looked at so many reviews on a number of brands, but decided to stick to Bambu and got the P1S. I hate being a fanboy, but at this time, nothing comes close to the combination of reliability, speed and quality. From what I have learned, every other printer is just a huge gamble. They may or may not work out of the box and they may or may not fix any issues down the line.
Oh yeah, Creality Print 5 and 6 don’t even have all their printers. I have keep using version 4 or the even older Creality Slicer just cause no other slicers support my silly CR-M4 😢
i do not think there will be a subscription system. they are protecting against hacking and they need it, alreaday some stole the security keys thru hacking, and also bambulab has always been a closed system, no open source crap
Had the S1 Pro as my first printer. 70-80% of filament bought was wasted in test prints and first layer tests and failed prints. Swore to never touch a Creality again. Now being intrigued about the K2 lol. Still waiting six - nine months. Need one with chamber heater but both Qidi and Creality are prone to issues it seems and rhe X1E is quite expensive.
Some reports of lots of purged filament and color bleed due to the long nozzle for the k2. I was interested too, but after seeing how much waste, I decide to pass. There's other k2 reviews that show the issue.
I had an Ender-3 S1, it worked for a while, but then I bought a Sonic Pad and that ended in tragedy. So I threw it out and bought an Ender-3 V3. It's been working almost perfectly. I had one problem with the filament getting unwound, but I've been looking into fixes for it, so I don't have to deal with it in the future. I recently bought a Creality K1 for $320 (came with upgraded extruder and hot end), and it's been great. I've had an issue with my filament getting stuck in the extruder, but Creality couldn't have made it easier to fix. Would recommend either of those printers if you know what you're getting into.
Brother I felt this in my soul! I originally started with an original ender3 w/cr touch and just like you I spent countless unemployed hours (It literally became my full time job lmao) trying to fix it. Literally spending days and weeks on forum. Then I bought and Elgoo Neptune 3 because I didn’t want to spend the money in a P1p since it was expensive. Spent another 8 months trying to get that to work and directly communicating with elgoo on their discord server and couldn’t get it to function correctly (bed adhesion issues and shit bed leveling). I got the P1S and it’s life changing
You'll find that your story is quite common these days; start with an ender, experience the frustration, move on to bambu. It was the same for me. I bought an ender 3 pro 5 years back, heavily modded it to get decent prints, but never reliable printing, and finally gave up on it and moved to a bambu A1 mini february 2024. Now I have three full size A1s, a mini, two AMS lits, and my wife has an A1, a mini and an AMS lite. Everything has worked beautifully for us. Basic maintenance is all that we've done.
@@LayerLabAustralia Yeah, she's into the decorative prints while I'm more into the functional prints. She loves it. Bambu printers made it super easy for her to get into it.
This last week or so I'm sensing a strong theme in 3d printing videos. I've seen three different 3dprinting enthusiasts/print farms crow about switching to Bambu.
started with the KE. im currently waiting on parts.... mean while my a1 chugs along no problems. maybe one day we will see an add: "did you ever own a creality 3d printer? you may be entitled to compensation"
I just got my first 3D printer last week. A Bambu Labs x1 Carbon. The only issues I have had are related to the learning curve figuring out the slicer and how to get files into the slicer.
I'm a casual user with an X1C. It's been a great experience. I had the occasional filament retraction or filament breaking inside the AMS issue but a few filament guiding mods and all is well.
i realy have no rpoblems with it ... someone already stole the security keys thru hcking. So it is time they restrict access. Bambulab has always been a closed system. Bambulab has been started with DJI engineers, and everyone nows DJI is also a closed system
I still have my very first Ender 3 (heavily modded tbf) in use for some small parts from time to time. But I'll get myself a Bambu Lab A1 in the near future (still debating if I want to wait for them to announce their new machines for 2025) After sinking so much time, effort and money into gettin the Ender 3 to work I'm at a point where I just want my printer to work out of the box and not reminding me of the science project it once was.
I have a custom ender 3 v2 that works after allot of studding and improvements hehehe, and a QIDI Q1 Pro that work but have some bed problems some times. My next 3d printer will be for sure a Bambu Lab.
My ender 3 S1 has been great. 3 issues in the 3 years. 1, the main cable failed, 2, the print head clogged once. 3, the filament run out switch, wich i stopped using. Other than that. Been perfect. upgraded to the K1 SE recently. So far it has been flawless and fast. Do people ever clean their print beds? I clean mine only with rubbing alcohol after every single print. Only 1 time way in the beginning did I have a bed adhesion issue. Sometimes the part is hard to get of the bed.
I started with a Creality CR-M4 and I’m never buying a Creality “printer” again. I thought I was buying the CR-M4 to have a printer, but it turned out to be a project lol. Then I got the A1 Mini, and omg my life was changed forever! 🎉
Yeah, it's crazy how much time and effort can go into getting some of those models running properly. Glad you found a good machine that works well for you!
I got my Ender 3 V3 KE, in 03/2024 and until now everything is working great! The original ender 3 is not a great printer for a longggg time, that og is old asf... I don't even know how it is still possible to buy one I have to agree that Creality Slicer was a pain in version 5.1 (but at that time I just gave up on it and stick with 4.3 and used orca slicer some times too), but as of now, with version 6.0, I've no complaints. The only problems I had since I got it was when I forgot to clean the magnetic build plate [never used any glue for my prints to stick into the bed] and when I bought bad filament (wich both can be categorized as user error ig). Apart from that everything works as intended. PS: But with the amount of complaints I see about creality printers in general I can agree that they have a serius problem with Quality Control.
At this point, I've been using my now heavily modded Ender 3 V2 for about 4 years now, and there's been a lot of pain and downright heartache trying to get this damn thing to work in the beginning. It took about two years of usage for me to get comfortable using it and getting consistent prints. Last year, I mastered printing regular PETG on it, and now I'm exploring printing at 200mm/s on it. I would never recommend an Ender 3 variation to a newbie. Im moving places soon, and Im eyeing the Bambulab A1 Mini for its smaller footprint, and apparently "fire and forget-ness" simplicity of it.
For the creality fans that will respond - just stop. I've had so many people get out of the hobby due to the trouble they've had with the Enders I recommended to them. I used to drink the Kool aid too, it's 1000% better on the other side.
Same exact issue i had with my first printer (anycubic kobra 2 neo) Ended up switching to the A1 and havent looked back since. I now have 2 minis in addition to my a1. cant wait for the H2D
I’m looking to buy a Bambu Labs P1P/P1S, and hoping to print in ASA with it to make little bits for cars. Can you give any reviews on printing ASAP from the P1P/P1S? Is it a good printer for ASA or ABS?
Copy below of a comment I just posted to someone asking the same question for ASA. I mostly print ABS (BL filament) and have to follow the same process as below as most my parts are long, flat, with thick walls and thick top surfaces, which creates a large temp differential btwn the the top and bottom layers that invites warping like honey attracts bears. Don't have such warping with PLA, can just print w open door (except with the largest + tallest parts). So, yeah, I'd never buy a P1P for my use case. The P1S's enclosure is a must. Previous comment: ASA works well on my P1S. But warping on long, tall or full bed length flat parts can be an issue. Doesn't work in a cold room, corners lift, brim or no brim. Have to put the printer in a tempered room, wrap it in a thick blanket, and pre-heat the chamber with the bed at 100oC for at least 30' until the inside temp reaches above 40oC minimum. See BL Forum posts like thermometer-holders-for-temperature-monitoring-in-p1s/54011 for simple remote thermometer. And at the end of the print I have to let everything cool down before opening the door for sometimes up to 1 hour otherwise the part itself can then start warping if exposed to ambient. Note that all that has nothing to do w the printer but with the way the ASA (Elegoo) material behaves depending on a part's geometry and the chamber temp. Small parts: no problem, don't need such a process.
After months of fighting with my Ender v3 se I got the Kobra 3 combo and It was life changing. Just waiting on Bambu to restock the x1c combo and it'll be on its way to me also. My ender taught me a lot about printing in its life with me.
I started with a Voxelab Aquila, an Ender 3 V2 clone. I then got a Creality Ender 5 Plus because I do large cosplay pieces and props. I now have a K1 alongside those other two. And the K1 has been giving me under extrusion issues since I upgraded to a Unicorn nozzle. I'd love to get a Bambu printer. But I need something with a large build volume that is fast.
Absolutely haven't had the same experience. My first printer was a SE, and I just picked up a K1C about 550 hours ago. Both printers are working great. Sorry you had such bad experiences.
I just made two TPU holders for my water bottles that I hang off a hook I printed with printed with PLA. The hooks are on my walker. My Bamboo Labs X1Carbon did a great job printing and releasing the TPU print.
Creality and other 3D printer manufacturers had more than 5 years to perfect their designs, and still failed. There could be no input shaping, no high speed, not autoleveling, no web interface, no colour touch screen... Just stable printing was enought. Good bed adhesion and no jams. So simple and still they managed to screwed it up. And here comes their punishment for their lazyness, stupidity and greed.
Agreed! I feel like creality is too focused on pumping out crappy machine after crappy machine, they need to just focus on making a handful of really good ones. Maybe one day.
My first printer was a CR10, and, it more or less worked. Of course, it took a bit of tinkering to keep it running, and it was 100% manual be leveling. My next printer was a Prusa Mini, and for the most part works well, but is REALLY finicky with the filament you feed it. Now, I have a P1S, and loving it so far. My Prusa Mini is still set up, but is just gathering dust, but it will likely be my test machine for TPU. I bought the 10W laser engraver/cutter hit for my CR10, and branching out to a new hobby. One thing that worries me is that my P1S is so easy to use, I feel like I am ignoring maintenance.
Yeah that's the problem 😆 you feel like you should be doing more to keep it running... Maybe today is the day it stops working because I haven't spent 5 billion hours fixing it 😆
I had the same path as you, Creality Ender 3 ruined 3D printing for me. Tinkering is fun if it works in the end. It took the Bambu A1 to bring me back in the fold.
I have an Ender 3 pro since 2019. The start was not so bad, but all the Bedleveling and the tape that I needed to put on were not so good. Then I started noticing that I could level the Bed, but nothing would stick in the middle in the Bed, I was frustrated and didnt use the printer anymore for a long time. Then I tought to give it another chance, since I had the Printer and I had bought the Glass Bed for the Ender 3. That means it should be plain an I have no more Problems, right? Well I have printed something flat in PLA and couldnt remove it from the Printbed. That was when the next break from 3D printing came. 2 month ago I started again with the Ender 3 pro, Glass bed and the magic Gluestick. Now the printing worked, I was hyped for 3d printing again, bought Filament, a bed level sensor, a new mainboard, new springs, new bowden tube and more stuff for the Printer. And I watched what else there was now in the Printer market. And with my christmas bonus I got a Bambu Lab P1S with AMS. Great Printer. The Ender 3 ist clearly a Printer that shows you how a 3D Printer works, you can see everything and work on it, but for most People 3D printing will now really get interesting with the Bambu Lab Printers and all other brands that now work hard to come close to it.
My first 3D printer was an Ender 3 V2 and I agree, this is NOT a beginner friendly machine. Took a lot of upgrades and fixes to make it easy and reliable to use. But it was a great learning experience. Definitely a tinkerers machine, but I have an advantage of being a service tech for industrial printers, so it was just a new machine to learn. I looked at some of those newer Ender models as an upgrade, but chose an Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro instead. After a couple of early firmware glitches it has been reliable. I added the larger Neptune 4 Plus on a good Black Friday sale. I may eventually go for one of the new generation of multicolor core XY machines, but waiting for that market to shake out and see what else comes.
yoo crazy , i started a month ago with ender 3 pro , fihgting with it for a month , then bought the 3v3 se tooo , so far its working good , no issues yet , im planing on getting bamboo a1 tho in 2 weeks cus i wannt print more and save time , its funny youve done the same as me lol
To be fair, i only had to have one creality machine to make the switch, i bought an ender 3 and spent 400 in parts and upgrades to get it working and it still is in pieces right now, on the bench under my p1s that just makes nice prints over and over
Interesting vid, thanks. Started with a cr10s, years ago, Yes ive tweaked it a LOT. but ive never really struggled with it. i fixed the bed using bolts and lock nuts years ago and have never leveled since. Ive also built a 500x500x500 Rat Rig, (not for the faint hearted). im now thinking of a print farm, and your correct Creality need too much tweaking and even if i were to buy the K2, the parts are all custom, making it impossible to service. Just waiting to see if bambu deliver the twin head large volume printer soon! Thanks for helping me choose brands.
I'm partly switching away from Bambu Lab... I started with Ender 3 and struggled a lot, so when X1C came out I bought it and it still works great (with minor issues). Got A1 mini a year latter. So now I'm happy owner of two Bambo Lab printers. However my third printer was Sovol SV08. I think Bambo Lab printers are great for beginners. Very useful is the trust you have in machine, so when you get fups, you know you messed up some settings and it is easier for troubleshooting.... (Z hops anyone?). I think for advanced users there are some interesting features outside of Bambo Lab bubble. When my A1 mini dies I will get a new one, since I fount it absolutely amazing for small parts. However when my X1C dies I'll get something else, based on my use and needs at that moment. Happy so far with Creality scanner and laser cutter, so might look in their direction also, just with a bit more caution :)
i have the KE it printed flawlessly until one day mid print, the z offset got out of wack, and from then one it would never get the z offset right ever again. Set a manual z offset and its back to printing well but i fell like im just waiting until the next thing breaks.
I gave away an ender 3 for christmas to replace it with an Ender 3 v3 SE... straight out of the box brand new it didnt work, days of troubleshooting later and it turns out they shipped it with a dead filament drive motor. I returned it the last day they would let me and ordered an A1. Stoked to be done with Creality and their lack of help.
I have been using creality for over 2 years and no problems like that so far (maybe because I am using different machines), is just the nozzle sometimes and the reason I need reality is because of the large bed size 500mm X 500mm.
Got my first personal printer a few months ago, the Ender 3 v3 SE. Had to make custom offsets for the bed with springs, 3d printed guides and new screws to get it to perfectly level. And as you said, Having to check if the gantry is square, checking every screw, wheel , belts for tension etc its not beginner friendly especially if your not a technical person. Mine workes great now but next on the list is a X1C. Every shop iv been into when getting new filament etc tell me when I ask for upgrades for the ender to think about how much I want to put into it, since the difference from a Ender 3 v3 SE to a A1 is 200$ ish and 200$ goes poof iyou start buying the parts to "improve" the ender. But if you want to learn how printers work and how to diagnose and make it "your own" I guess Ender is still a great price point.
There are also upgrades for X1C. I think it was worth getting E3D CHT nozzles. I print mostly functioning parts and layer adhesion is much better. A bit more ugly due to oozing... However this upgrades were not to make it work, but to make it faster and fit better with what I print mostly. So I got X1C combo when it came out for 1600 eur. Then upgrade nozzle for 250 eur (0.4 and 0.6) few bed sheets for diferent materials. 40eur each.... You can defiantly use the printer out of the box. Hoverer if you try to change something on X1C, it is expensive. Think about A1 mini. Bed sheets are half the price.
I went through basically the same experience, though greatly abbreviated. I have a 3v2 that I finally got fed up with. It has a new extruder feeder, flexible bed plate, CR Touch, and mriscoc firmware. When it prints, it's OK. When it doesn't print, it's terrible. I ordered a Prusa and am waiting for it to ship.
"soul destroying Creality printers" Yup, 100% accurate description. Would NEVER touch their crappy printers again. Absolute minimum effort garbage. My first printer was also an Ender 3. It scarred me badly enough to put me off for a year or two. Went through everything you went through.
I guess I got lucky because my Ender 3 Pro (bought in 2019) is still going strong without too much maintenance. I really want to buy a new, fast, smart printer, but I don't print enough to justify it when I have a working one.
Great video! From one Aussie to another… mate, you should’ve gone with a Prusa! I’ve clocked over 3,000 prints on my MK4/S with only five failures-most of them down to user error. Can’t beat that reliability!
@@LayerLabAustralia Prusa is the original pioneer of 3D printers and the inventor of the bed-slinger style design. Saying you haven’t heard of Prusa in the 3D printing world is like saying you’ve never heard of Ford in the automotive industry. Many other companies, like Creality with their Ender 3, are essentially budget-friendly imitations of Prusa. While Prusa printers may cost about five times more, the difference is clear-they’re reliable, high-quality machines that just work! Just like a Toyota. PS I am from WA it totally sucks how WA state gov totally banned gel blasters (mainly because of a few idiots ruining it for the others) peace out Ethan, Perth WA
Definitely shows that Creality's quality is hit or miss. I have a KE myself for 1 year now and has worked flawlessly. I recently bought the micro swiss hotend just for a little more reliability but it's bone stock for the rest. If I'm going for a second one it's for sure going to be a P1S or X1 but I'm still sticking with that KE
IMO aged like milk since the Bambu controversy
not everyone uses other slicers xD
@@FarmerHotdog Sure, but requiring authorization for things, and potentially collecting my data, including prints, and possibly selling it is terrible, which is why I got an Ender 3 Pro since it is open source
@@VSS-Vintorez Potentially being the operative word. The security issues are real but the developments are worth keeping an eye on. Bambu stands to lose a ton of business if they don't keep customers happy.
Same story as me....started with an Ender 3 v2 and what you explained is spot on how I felt! Got my Bambu P1S/AMS Combo over Christmas and its like....my life...has been revolutionized!
Your comparing apples with bananas though! Which year was the Ender 3 and why didn't you get a 800 bucks Prusa MK3 back then?
And now the "revolution" is not because of Bambu, it's because of tech advanced very quick. *A Creality K1c or a Anycubic Kobra 3 with ACE would have been a similar step in 3D printing!*
@@hassosigbjoernson5738 those wouldn't happen without bambu, let's be real
And colour!!!! Everything I ever wanted from a printer.
@@hassosigbjoernson5738 Because I wasnt planning on getting a 3D printer and my co-worker gave me the E3v2 for free lol
same here
Well, ive now changed my mind. No company is going to get away with telling me that I have GOT TO connect my printer to the cloud, Bambu have just shot themselves in the foot BIG TIME! This whole firmware update smacks of leading people down the road of a subscription based user service, I dont mind if they want to offer the option to use it, but from what i can see, this is a slippery slope to giving bambu total control of a product that i own. Back to creality and Rat Rig.
Creality be like: How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?!
i know right 🤣
to funny of a comment explains my journey to well lmfao
I started with the Ender 3 Pro. Everything was great until one day it started acting up. The frustration built up so much that I decided to switch to the Ender 3 S1. It worked well for 4-5 months, and I even upgraded a bunch of components. It continued to perform well for almost a year. But then... it started failing again. The first layer failed so often that I just couldn’t take it anymore. My frustration boiled over, and I switched to the Creality K1.
At first, the K1 worked like magic-everything seemed perfect. Until I realized I couldn’t print larger parts. The print bed started warping so much that anything covering 75% of the build plate just wouldn’t stick. Spending three hours on a print, only for the part to detach from the bed and fail-well, that’s not fun at all.
I’d had enough of Creality printers.
Now I have the Bambu Lab P1S, and after three months of use, I can confidently say… this printer is perfect.
What pushed me to go for the Bambu Lab printer was a video from the TH-cam channel Shop Nation titled "What happens when you run Bambu Lab 3D Printers for 100,000 hours?" Travis’s take on Bambu Lab printers after 100,000 combined printing hours demonstrated their reliability.
So far, with the P1S, every print completes without failure. No first-layer issues, no parts coming loose hours into the print process.
Looking back, the money I spent on the Ender 3 Pro, S1, and K1-if I’d just gone for a Bambu Lab printer in the first place… you live and learn.
This sounds so familiar...
suddenly new update appears...
Looks like you’re going to have to switch again really soon…
I started way back when with a Thing-O-Matic kit, then when that died, a PrintrBot, then eventually worked my way through the ranks with 3 Enders to finally, FINALLY, getting a Bambu A1 with AMS and now I'm in heaven!
I did throw my Ender 3 V2 across the room. Almost out the door. Bought a Bambu A1 and a A1 mini. Both are flawless.
I hear balconies are better for that... :P
Same! I had the same issues with my Ender 3 and Ender 3 S1 Pro, I went with the Qidi Q1 Pro instead of a Bambu and I love it!
3D printers advanced quite a lot in the last 4 years, so of course the new models are more advanced. Qidi also came a long way!
Congrats on the video. Creality needs to stop releasing multiple machines and focus on making one that works well. I'm seeing a lot of people switching to Bambu Lab.
Thanks dude :D Yeah, I feel like they just keep pumping out new printer after new printer, resulting in lots of average printers. If they just focused on one printer, spent a decent amount of time TESTING IT, maybe they could make a come back... One day maybe :P
I guess you guys haven't heard of the K2 plus
Nice to see an honest review. I made a mistake, I started with Bambu Lab's A1 Combo, then a P1S. And that's where i messed up. Those printers gave me the false idea that 3D printing was easy and for the most part issue free. SO decided to get the K2 Plus. HUGE mistake. This thing has been issue after issue and Unlike my Bambu's which i can just set and forget. This one I have to constantly be monitoring for errors. This Creality was as wakeup for me to know that not all 3D companies are on equal grounds.
Got to say, bought a Ender KE, first 10 to 20 prints went well and at £289 it was not a bad price...... Then it went pow..... lost the entire hot end to a big old fat blob. Could'nt even buy a new hot end at the time.... And like Layerlab - bought enough parts to all but build a new one. So went and bought a Bambu A1 for the same price as the KE as it was on special...
Never going back. Creality's problem is they just amend a existing version with a little upgrade here and there instead of starting from the ground up with the knowledgethey have gained from out in the wild..
In a nut shell don't touch ender.
My first and only printer is a Bambu Lab X1C. I gotta admit its pretty seamless in terms of user experience, the computer and phone app. its all just works. Ive had very few issues with prints so far and have bought and printed upgrades for the machine here and there. That being said I cant speak for other printers but i can certainly recommend a bambu lab any day of the week.
Well .. .that got to be expected from a 1000+ € machine, wasn't it!?
Bambu Lab did copy the "Prusa experience" which means a certain seamless experience for which you pay for!
Most people won't have the luxury of buying a first 3D printer that is sooo much expensive. So you're very lucky.
@@hassosigbjoernson5738 wrong, you can buy a1 mini that offers the same experience and anyone can afford it.
Don't get me wrong, I switched from an Ender 3 to a Ender 5 Pro to a Bambu Labs A1, and Bambu Labs is amazing, but I feel like part of it is that you got Creality printers that were made at a bad time. The Ender 3 used to be the best for beginners, but its almost 7 years old and simply isn't and hasn't been (you can usually get them extremely cheap though. At Microcenter you were able to and might still be able to get an Ender 3 Pro for 100, which is cheaper than any somewhat decent printer I know of), and all the old videos are still up saying its the best. The Ender 3 V3 was released around the time Bambu Labs released their printer (the X1C), and Bambu Labs made every company need to step up, but since the Ender 3 V3 was both MUCH cheaper and cost MUCH less, it both didn't have the time to step up or the need to compete with Bambu Labs. The Ender 3 V3 KE was released a little after the A1 Mini, so they probably just wanted to release a slightly better printer, but didn't have the time to make a new one to compete with the A1 Mini, plus it had a bigger build volume, so they had to worry a little less about people who wanted a larger build volume for a not much larger price.
I know they are kind of just copying Bambu Labs, but now they've had plenty of time to learn how Bambu made their printers good, so they released the K1C, which still isn't as good as Bambu, but I've heard it's still good and competes or beats most non-Bambu printers. Now later released a bigger K1 printer, which probably was similar to K1C but has a bigger build volume than any Bambu Labs printer. Then they released the K2 Plus with the CFS, which you mentioned, but I've heard better things than you have about them. The K2 Plus is expensive but is supposed to be better than their K1 series, and the CFS is their alternative to the AMS. Again, I've heard good things about it, and obviously not better than the X1C, but that its still really good and it has a bigger build volume than any Bambu Labs printer, so its a pretty good option for people who really want a bigger printer than what Bambu Labs offers. Now they are supposed to release an alternative to the A1 and it will be compatible with their CFS. I don't know how good it will be, but something that will be appealing to a lot of people is that unlike the AMS-Lite, you will be able to combine 4 to get a total of 16 colors on a printer than is cheaper than the AMS (obviously with the 4 CFS it will be more expensive, but the printer itself is cheaper).
I’m glad I started with Bambu A1
It took four months for me to decide whether or not to buy a 3D printer, and that's how long I ended up using to basically discard all brands (including, and mainly, Creality) and stick with Bambu Lab. And I couldn't be happier with my P1S. I'm just glad I didn't have to go through what you went through because I don't know if I would have persevered.
This video evokes resonance. I started with an Ender 3 "Pro". It was punitive garbage and I got rid of it. Creality became a dirty word in this house and I will never buy another of its products.
Then I bought a Mingda Magician X which, for some reason, worked ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY for 2 and a half years. Recently the Mingda has gone insane and no longer responds properly despite heroic efforts, so I ordered a Bambu P1S which will be here shortly. I hope it's not one of the bad specimens.
I recently got back into 3D printing and pulled my Voxelab Aquila out of storage, worked flawlessly for the first few prints but now I'm in the same position lol. Literally everything broke at once and I've replaced everything, updated firmware, did a dual z-axis upgrade, upgraded the hotend, new gear feeder, etc... Still printing like ass.
I ordered a Bambu Lab A1 mini a few weeks back to try it out since it was so cheap, just waiting for it to arrive. I want my prints to be my projects, not the printer itself. You don't buy a sewing machine to endlessly tinker with the machine and never make anything. You don't buy a regular printer only to have to replace all the parts, fiddle with the settings forever and then never print any pictures or documents.
You don't buy a tool to have to constantly be having setbacks on your projects because the tool keeps malfunctioning, it's a waste of time and isn't the point.
6:23 You didn't mention the V-wheels
Similar story with me as well. I started with artillery and Sovol and while I had no one near as bad of luck as you did, and I did learn a lot, the bambu printer that I have now is a magnitude of order easier , straightforward, more features, and just works.
I have my first BL P1S from 4 days and im happy such a good machine 😍😍😍
I had bad experience with Creality machines, the last one I owned was an Ender 5 S1. A print failed causing spaghetti. The printhead got entangled and ripped apart in 2 chunks because the front part with the hot end and the back with the PCB and cooling fan are held together by a tiny aluminium tab 5mm wide. Any engineer with basic degree would have seen this and say "nope that's not gonna work", but Creality mass produced it. I bough a Qidi and had clogging issues until I modified the printhead. Same s*** different logo. The only difference is they respond to emails.
I will do the same when Bambu Lab will present on Russian market. Three month with Ender KE. Replaced noisy hotend fan, burned hotend heater, bed plate scratched by nozzle when CR touch fail.
Musicie chyba najpierw przestać zabijać ludzi w Ukrainie.
Może wtedy Bambu do was przybędzie....
If @BambuLab get in russia they will got hit by sanctions from day one, 'cause russians printing drone parts
Make russian proof appliance is on another level though.. xD
@@Madthrax23 Possible to buy but it's mostly printers for China market and price is double against official.
same here, now i have a Bambu
The funny thing is you’re switching to Bambu just as Creality have finally got their act together. Their latest offering the K2 Plus coupled with Creality Print 6 is excellent. The K2 Plus is quicker than the X1/P1 and every bit as sharp. And of course the added volume. The CFS is actually better than Bambu’s AMS. Up until now I avoided Creality. You couldn’t pay me to use an Ender. I’ve been a Bambu user since day 1 in 2021. But I’m super impressed and pleasantly surprised with my K2 Plus which is basically a bigger, quicker, beefier X1 Carbon.
time will tell..
until it just stops working
I just switched from a heavily modded Ender 3 V2 Neo to a P1S. What a game changer!! I sank money into dual Z axis, direct drive printhead, new springs, new bed plates,, etc and still the quality and speed sucked. I did manage to get $150 for the ender on Marketplace though...
yeah, I sold all my previous machines (except one) on marketplace, even when they are listed as having issues. People just like tinkering i guess XD
Well, a few years ago I bought Ender 3 as my first printer. It's been a rough journey, but I've learned a lot. Changed many small components in the first year of using, and most importantly installed custom firmware with mesh bed-leveling. After that printing quality is stable (although I rarely print nowadays). Back then it was still the best option considering its price.
you can tell how many Creality printers a person has owned by looking at their spare parts drawer 😂
Why do I enjoy listening to frustrated Aussie's so much?
Honestly I was kind of hating on BL when they first came out. But I had enough of trying to get my Ender 3 and Anycubic Kobra Go to print ASA and got a P1S. It's crazy how well it just works. I've printed more the first few weeks I've had it than the 6 years I've had my Ender 3. Although I do think while the Ender 3s do have fundamental flaws, people just throw parts at it expecting it to be fixed without actually knowing what is wrong with them.
How do you find printing ASA with the P1S? I’m looking at buying one to print car parts but I want to confirm it’s the right one for me before I waste £500 and it not work as I need it to
@@RsTubzey ASA works well on my P1S. But warping on long, tall or full bed length flat parts can be an issue. Doesn't work in a cold room, corners lift, brim or no brim. Have to put the printer in a tempered room, wrap it in a thick blanket, and pre-heat the chamber with the bed at 100oC for at least 30' until the inside temp reaches above 40oC minimum. See BL Forum posts like thermometer-holders-for-temperature-monitoring-in-p1s/54011 for simple remote thermometer.
And at the end of the print I have to let everything cool down for sometimes up to 1 hour otherwise the part itself can warp. Ie all that has nothing to do w the printer but with the way the ASA (Elegoo) material behaves.
Small parts: no problem, don't need such a process.
It always seems to be a game of Russian roulette with creality printers. A few years back me and a co-worker went in on buying two ender3s at $90 a piece. Mine ran fine right out of the box while his had tons of issues. The controller logic was bad at first, then the thermostat wasn't Reading temperatures correctly at the nozzle, power supply cooked itself and so on and so on... Meanwhile my ender 3 is still going strong. I've printed a bunch of my own upgrades and even slapped on a CR touch bed leveling sensor and a glass bed. My coworker bought a second ender 3 while he was trying to fix the first one and after a year of messing with both of them he had two printers that worked sometimes but never really was able to work at their full potential. He eventually switched to a bambu lab printer
We all have to thank Creality for bundling their printers with unavoidable tinkering lessons.
Always had issues with Creality, a couple of them just randomly died on me (cr20 pro and ender 3v2 decided that they wanted new motherboards) ender 3 always had issues with knob miscounting steps, cr20 z axis would constantly glitch out. All Creality cooling fans would randomly start screaming.
Much happier with Bambu
Me too!
K2 plus is a beast and no failed prints so far.. but yeah, all of my bambus have put in work and I love them.
I love my Bambu Labs printers. Bambu Labs was started from ex DJI engineers. Need I say more? My DJI drones fly so pretty.
They are tools from the CCP
and do not forget DJI si also a closed system
Hi, why did you buy v3 ke when A1 was the same price, very weird decision 🤔
I dont know dude... I think I just wanted to keep everything in the Creality eco-system, I understood how the slicer worked, I had used these type of machines for a while, I was afraid of changing and it being the same/worse.
@@LayerLabAustralia yeah I totally get that, good thing you got there in the end :)
I have the same experience with Creality. I listened to TH-cam and bought the ender 3 v2. 3 Years later, 2 stock Extruders, 3 Sprite Extruders, Dual axis Z, Linear rail, Enclosure I finally have near perfect prints. I now have to relevel my bed after every 5 prints. I have 2 questions for you. 1. Fast printing on the Bambu, how do the corners look? Do they have bulging corners? The ender I have to slow my initial print to 5, then step it up to at most 75 after that, but 35 ms works best. Takes forever to print. 2. Do your corners lift up on the bambu prints? My ender is finally tuned but I still have to print every piece larger than 1 inch with a Brim. Otherwise at least 1 corner will lift mid print.
I bought an Ender 3 v2 about 5 years ago. It worked from day one. I have modified it with dual Z motors. I added a BL Touch and silicone springs and I haven't touched the bed level knobs in years. I used to check the bed mesh once in a while but haven't needed to adjust it so I quit doing that. I also added a direct drive to run TPU.
It may be slower than the continental drift, but I can start a print and walk away knowing I'll come back to a completed print. I have no idea how many thousands of hours that little guy has printed.
During the recent Christmas sales, I bought an Ender 3 V3 Plus. I have put 120hrs on it so far and not even a hiccup. It's big, it's fast and it works.
I don't understand it. According to everyone else, these things should have exploded and burnt my house down by now.
Amazing how many voices have the same expierience, including this one. Ive modded my ender 3 so much its not an ender 3 anymore, but a monster that has been given a tru chance at life. Then i got a p1s and my 3d printing dreams came back to full life. It just works, no tinkering.
I bought my first FDM printer just over 3 months ago. I went for the Bambu A1, due to the great reviews. I had heard stories about how getting FDM printers to properly work was much harder than resin printers, but my A1 has worked (almost) flawlessly each and every time. I decided to buy my next printer and wanted to go core XY, so I could possibly print in a wider variety of materials. I have looked at so many reviews on a number of brands, but decided to stick to Bambu and got the P1S. I hate being a fanboy, but at this time, nothing comes close to the combination of reliability, speed and quality. From what I have learned, every other printer is just a huge gamble. They may or may not work out of the box and they may or may not fix any issues down the line.
same story for me, switched to bambu, life has never been better
Oh yeah, Creality Print 5 and 6 don’t even have all their printers. I have keep using version 4 or the even older Creality Slicer just cause no other slicers support my silly CR-M4 😢
Bet you wish you switched to something else other than Bambu now they are locking you down and in the future printing will be a subscription on Bambu
i do not think there will be a subscription system. they are protecting against hacking and they need it, alreaday some stole the security keys thru hacking, and also bambulab has always been a closed system, no open source crap
Had the S1 Pro as my first printer. 70-80% of filament bought was wasted in test prints and first layer tests and failed prints. Swore to never touch a Creality again. Now being intrigued about the K2 lol. Still waiting six - nine months. Need one with chamber heater but both Qidi and Creality are prone to issues it seems and rhe X1E is quite expensive.
Some reports of lots of purged filament and color bleed due to the long nozzle for the k2. I was interested too, but after seeing how much waste, I decide to pass. There's other k2 reviews that show the issue.
@@oneanother1 Yea - it seems when stuff generally goes wrong, it seems to go wrong with a bang .... Maybe I am too spoilt by my Bambus lol ...
I’m starting on 3D printing and I got the ender 3 v3plus and so far it has never gave me a fail print, in very happy with it.
I had an Ender-3 S1, it worked for a while, but then I bought a Sonic Pad and that ended in tragedy. So I threw it out and bought an Ender-3 V3. It's been working almost perfectly. I had one problem with the filament getting unwound, but I've been looking into fixes for it, so I don't have to deal with it in the future. I recently bought a Creality K1 for $320 (came with upgraded extruder and hot end), and it's been great. I've had an issue with my filament getting stuck in the extruder, but Creality couldn't have made it easier to fix. Would recommend either of those printers if you know what you're getting into.
Brother I felt this in my soul! I originally started with an original ender3 w/cr touch and just like you I spent countless unemployed hours (It literally became my full time job lmao) trying to fix it. Literally spending days and weeks on forum. Then I bought and Elgoo Neptune 3 because I didn’t want to spend the money in a P1p since it was expensive. Spent another 8 months trying to get that to work and directly communicating with elgoo on their discord server and couldn’t get it to function correctly (bed adhesion issues and shit bed leveling). I got the P1S and it’s life changing
haha ahhh man, it sucks hey! I can't even fathom how much time I have wasted, when the solution was a mere $800 away :P P1S, the S stands for sexy :P
@@LayerLabAustralia lmao that’s us true it hurts man! Happy printing and never buy anything that isn’t prusa or bambu
You'll find that your story is quite common these days; start with an ender, experience the frustration, move on to bambu. It was the same for me. I bought an ender 3 pro 5 years back, heavily modded it to get decent prints, but never reliable printing, and finally gave up on it and moved to a bambu A1 mini february 2024. Now I have three full size A1s, a mini, two AMS lits, and my wife has an A1, a mini and an AMS lite. Everything has worked beautifully for us. Basic maintenance is all that we've done.
Wow! Your wife is into 3d printing?! You are lucky man 😄 glad your bambu machines are running well!
@@LayerLabAustralia Yeah, she's into the decorative prints while I'm more into the functional prints. She loves it. Bambu printers made it super easy for her to get into it.
This last week or so I'm sensing a strong theme in 3d printing videos. I've seen three different 3dprinting enthusiasts/print farms crow about switching to Bambu.
Bambus marketing dept. working overtime I guess lol.
started with the KE. im currently waiting on parts.... mean while my a1 chugs along no problems.
maybe one day we will see an add: "did you ever own a creality 3d printer? you may be entitled to compensation"
Class action? 😆
One could only hope lol
I just got my first 3D printer last week. A Bambu Labs x1 Carbon. The only issues I have had are related to the learning curve figuring out the slicer and how to get files into the slicer.
I'm a casual user with an X1C. It's been a great experience. I had the occasional filament retraction or filament breaking inside the AMS issue but a few filament guiding mods and all is well.
Thanks
My first super thanks on the channel! 🤩
@ so deserved you are saving many people a lot of time and money and heartache!
Hmm well that see what he thinks know with the changes form bambulab.
i realy have no rpoblems with it ... someone already stole the security keys thru hcking. So it is time they restrict access. Bambulab has always been a closed system. Bambulab has been started with DJI engineers, and everyone nows DJI is also a closed system
This video aged like milk.
Worst. Timing. Ever!
not everyone uses other slicers
I still have my very first Ender 3 (heavily modded tbf) in use for some small parts from time to time. But I'll get myself a Bambu Lab A1 in the near future (still debating if I want to wait for them to announce their new machines for 2025)
After sinking so much time, effort and money into gettin the Ender 3 to work I'm at a point where I just want my printer to work out of the box and not reminding me of the science project it once was.
It is a truly freeing experience to not have to worry about all the annoyances that come with enders. Now i have so much more time! :D
I have a custom ender 3 v2 that works after allot of studding and improvements hehehe, and a QIDI Q1 Pro that work but have some bed problems some times. My next 3d printer will be for sure a Bambu Lab.
I've had my MK4S that I built as a kit for 3 months now, working like a charm. The app is pretty annoying to use, but prusa connect is decent.
I got the ender 3 and right after i returned it and bought a bambu lab A1
I wish I was as smart as you 😆😆😅
My ender 3 S1 has been great. 3 issues in the 3 years. 1, the main cable failed, 2, the print head clogged once. 3, the filament run out switch, wich i stopped using. Other than that. Been perfect. upgraded to the K1 SE recently. So far it has been flawless and fast.
Do people ever clean their print beds? I clean mine only with rubbing alcohol after every single print. Only 1 time way in the beginning did I have a bed adhesion issue. Sometimes the part is hard to get of the bed.
I started with a Creality CR-M4 and I’m never buying a Creality “printer” again.
I thought I was buying the CR-M4 to have a printer, but it turned out to be a project lol. Then I got the A1 Mini, and omg my life was changed forever! 🎉
Yeah, it's crazy how much time and effort can go into getting some of those models running properly. Glad you found a good machine that works well for you!
Creality is a hell of a learning curve, huh?
same... got insane with my old k1 ... got myself a bambu ... no problems since then
I got my Ender 3 V3 KE, in 03/2024 and until now everything is working great!
The original ender 3 is not a great printer for a longggg time, that og is old asf... I don't even know how it is still possible to buy one
I have to agree that Creality Slicer was a pain in version 5.1 (but at that time I just gave up on it and stick with 4.3 and used orca slicer some times too), but as of now, with version 6.0, I've no complaints.
The only problems I had since I got it was when I forgot to clean the magnetic build plate [never used any glue for my prints to stick into the bed] and when I bought bad filament (wich both can be categorized as user error ig). Apart from that everything works as intended.
PS: But with the amount of complaints I see about creality printers in general I can agree that they have a serius problem with Quality Control.
At this point, I've been using my now heavily modded Ender 3 V2 for about 4 years now, and there's been a lot of pain and downright heartache trying to get this damn thing to work in the beginning. It took about two years of usage for me to get comfortable using it and getting consistent prints. Last year, I mastered printing regular PETG on it, and now I'm exploring printing at 200mm/s on it.
I would never recommend an Ender 3 variation to a newbie.
Im moving places soon, and Im eyeing the Bambulab A1 Mini for its smaller footprint, and apparently "fire and forget-ness" simplicity of it.
Thank you Sir, you have just saved me some money and probably months of frustration ;)
haha glad I could help!
I own a K1 and so far I didn't run into any major issues. It prints just fine and quite fast. I hope it stays this way😅
Creality is for those who want to tinker with their tools. Bambu is for those who want to use their tools.
For the creality fans that will respond - just stop. I've had so many people get out of the hobby due to the trouble they've had with the Enders I recommended to them. I used to drink the Kool aid too, it's 1000% better on the other side.
Same exact issue i had with my first printer (anycubic kobra 2 neo) Ended up switching to the A1 and havent looked back since. I now have 2 minis in addition to my a1. cant wait for the H2D
I’m looking to buy a Bambu Labs P1P/P1S, and hoping to print in ASA with it to make little bits for cars. Can you give any reviews on printing ASAP from the P1P/P1S? Is it a good printer for ASA or ABS?
Copy below of a comment I just posted to someone asking the same question for ASA.
I mostly print ABS (BL filament) and have to follow the same process as below as most my parts are long, flat, with thick walls and thick top surfaces, which creates a large temp differential btwn the the top and bottom layers that invites warping like honey attracts bears.
Don't have such warping with PLA, can just print w open door (except with the largest + tallest parts).
So, yeah, I'd never buy a P1P for my use case. The P1S's enclosure is a must.
Previous comment: ASA works well on my P1S. But warping on long, tall or full bed length flat parts can be an issue. Doesn't work in a cold room, corners lift, brim or no brim. Have to put the printer in a tempered room, wrap it in a thick blanket, and pre-heat the chamber with the bed at 100oC for at least 30' until the inside temp reaches above 40oC minimum. See BL Forum posts like thermometer-holders-for-temperature-monitoring-in-p1s/54011 for simple remote thermometer.
And at the end of the print I have to let everything cool down before opening the door for sometimes up to 1 hour otherwise the part itself can then start warping if exposed to ambient. Note that all that has nothing to do w the printer but with the way the ASA (Elegoo) material behaves depending on a part's geometry and the chamber temp.
Small parts: no problem, don't need such a process.
After months of fighting with my Ender v3 se I got the Kobra 3 combo and It was life changing. Just waiting on Bambu to restock the x1c combo and it'll be on its way to me also. My ender taught me a lot about printing in its life with me.
I hear you on the Ender teaching you how to print. But when you start relying on these things to run a business, you just need them to work :P
I started with a Voxelab Aquila, an Ender 3 V2 clone. I then got a Creality Ender 5 Plus because I do large cosplay pieces and props. I now have a K1 alongside those other two. And the K1 has been giving me under extrusion issues since I upgraded to a Unicorn nozzle. I'd love to get a Bambu printer. But I need something with a large build volume that is fast.
Absolutely haven't had the same experience. My first printer was a SE, and I just picked up a K1C about 550 hours ago. Both printers are working great. Sorry you had such bad experiences.
I just made two TPU holders for my water bottles that I hang off a hook I printed with printed with PLA. The hooks are on my walker. My Bamboo Labs X1Carbon did a great job printing and releasing the TPU print.
Creality and other 3D printer manufacturers had more than 5 years to perfect their designs, and still failed.
There could be no input shaping, no high speed, not autoleveling, no web interface, no colour touch screen... Just stable printing was enought. Good bed adhesion and no jams. So simple and still they managed to screwed it up. And here comes their punishment for their lazyness, stupidity and greed.
Agreed! I feel like creality is too focused on pumping out crappy machine after crappy machine, they need to just focus on making a handful of really good ones. Maybe one day.
My first printer was a CR10, and, it more or less worked. Of course, it took a bit of tinkering to keep it running, and it was 100% manual be leveling. My next printer was a Prusa Mini, and for the most part works well, but is REALLY finicky with the filament you feed it. Now, I have a P1S, and loving it so far. My Prusa Mini is still set up, but is just gathering dust, but it will likely be my test machine for TPU. I bought the 10W laser engraver/cutter hit for my CR10, and branching out to a new hobby.
One thing that worries me is that my P1S is so easy to use, I feel like I am ignoring maintenance.
Yeah that's the problem 😆 you feel like you should be doing more to keep it running... Maybe today is the day it stops working because I haven't spent 5 billion hours fixing it 😆
I've never had any filament problems with my Prusa Mini. None. And I use all kind of different filament brands. I think I'm shadowbanned.
@@joeking433 you aren't
I had the same path as you, Creality Ender 3 ruined 3D printing for me. Tinkering is fun if it works in the end. It took the Bambu A1 to bring me back in the fold.
I know the feeling, sometimes it's just not worth the hassle!
I have an Ender 3 pro since 2019. The start was not so bad, but all the Bedleveling and the tape that I needed to put on were not so good.
Then I started noticing that I could level the Bed, but nothing would stick in the middle in the Bed, I was frustrated and didnt use the printer anymore for a long time.
Then I tought to give it another chance, since I had the Printer and I had bought the Glass Bed for the Ender 3.
That means it should be plain an I have no more Problems, right?
Well I have printed something flat in PLA and couldnt remove it from the Printbed.
That was when the next break from 3D printing came.
2 month ago I started again with the Ender 3 pro, Glass bed and the magic Gluestick.
Now the printing worked, I was hyped for 3d printing again, bought Filament, a bed level sensor, a new mainboard, new springs, new bowden tube and more stuff for the Printer.
And I watched what else there was now in the Printer market.
And with my christmas bonus I got a Bambu Lab P1S with AMS. Great Printer.
The Ender 3 ist clearly a Printer that shows you how a 3D Printer works, you can see everything and work on it, but for most People 3D printing will now really get interesting with the Bambu Lab Printers and all other brands that now work hard to come close to it.
My first 3D printer was an Ender 3 V2 and I agree, this is NOT a beginner friendly machine. Took a lot of upgrades and fixes to make it easy and reliable to use. But it was a great learning experience. Definitely a tinkerers machine, but I have an advantage of being a service tech for industrial printers, so it was just a new machine to learn. I looked at some of those newer Ender models as an upgrade, but chose an Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro instead. After a couple of early firmware glitches it has been reliable. I added the larger Neptune 4 Plus on a good Black Friday sale. I may eventually go for one of the new generation of multicolor core XY machines, but waiting for that market to shake out and see what else comes.
yoo crazy , i started a month ago with ender 3 pro , fihgting with it for a month , then bought the 3v3 se tooo , so far its working good , no issues yet , im planing on getting bamboo a1 tho in 2 weeks cus i wannt print more and save time , its funny youve done the same as me lol
To be fair, i only had to have one creality machine to make the switch, i bought an ender 3 and spent 400 in parts and upgrades to get it working and it still is in pieces right now, on the bench under my p1s that just makes nice prints over and over
Omg what a nightmare!!!! 😢😢😢 so glad you are learned a lot and have a good one now!
a wise man once said:" BUT OF COURSE IT WOULDNT BE A CREALITY PRODUCT IF IT ACTUALLY WORKED"
Interesting vid, thanks. Started with a cr10s, years ago, Yes ive tweaked it a LOT. but ive never really struggled with it. i fixed the bed using bolts and lock nuts years ago and have never leveled since. Ive also built a 500x500x500 Rat Rig, (not for the faint hearted). im now thinking of a print farm, and your correct Creality need too much tweaking and even if i were to buy the K2, the parts are all custom, making it impossible to service. Just waiting to see if bambu deliver the twin head large volume printer soon! Thanks for helping me choose brands.
I'm partly switching away from Bambu Lab... I started with Ender 3 and struggled a lot, so when X1C came out I bought it and it still works great (with minor issues). Got A1 mini a year latter. So now I'm happy owner of two Bambo Lab printers. However my third printer was Sovol SV08. I think Bambo Lab printers are great for beginners. Very useful is the trust you have in machine, so when you get fups, you know you messed up some settings and it is easier for troubleshooting.... (Z hops anyone?).
I think for advanced users there are some interesting features outside of Bambo Lab bubble. When my A1 mini dies I will get a new one, since I fount it absolutely amazing for small parts. However when my X1C dies I'll get something else, based on my use and needs at that moment. Happy so far with Creality scanner and laser cutter, so might look in their direction also, just with a bit more caution :)
i have the KE it printed flawlessly until one day mid print, the z offset got out of wack, and from then one it would never get the z offset right ever again. Set a manual z offset and its back to printing well but i fell like im just waiting until the next thing breaks.
yup! Exactly the same thing happened to me. It seemed the Z offset just couldn't calibrate properly, even after replacing manyyyyy parts.
I gave away an ender 3 for christmas to replace it with an Ender 3 v3 SE... straight out of the box brand new it didnt work, days of troubleshooting later and it turns out they shipped it with a dead filament drive motor. I returned it the last day they would let me and ordered an A1. Stoked to be done with Creality and their lack of help.
I have been using creality for over 2 years and no problems like that so far (maybe because I am using different machines), is just the nozzle sometimes and the reason I need reality is because of the large bed size 500mm X 500mm.
Let us know how the update goes.
Got my first personal printer a few months ago, the Ender 3 v3 SE. Had to make custom offsets for the bed with springs, 3d printed guides and new screws to get it to perfectly level.
And as you said, Having to check if the gantry is square, checking every screw, wheel , belts for tension etc its not beginner friendly especially if your not a technical person.
Mine workes great now but next on the list is a X1C.
Every shop iv been into when getting new filament etc tell me when I ask for upgrades for the ender to think about how much I want to put into it, since the difference from a Ender 3 v3 SE to a A1 is 200$ ish and 200$ goes poof iyou start buying the parts to "improve" the ender.
But if you want to learn how printers work and how to diagnose and make it "your own" I guess Ender is still a great price point.
There are also upgrades for X1C. I think it was worth getting E3D CHT nozzles. I print mostly functioning parts and layer adhesion is much better. A bit more ugly due to oozing... However this upgrades were not to make it work, but to make it faster and fit better with what I print mostly.
So I got X1C combo when it came out for 1600 eur. Then upgrade nozzle for 250 eur (0.4 and 0.6) few bed sheets for diferent materials. 40eur each....
You can defiantly use the printer out of the box. Hoverer if you try to change something on X1C, it is expensive. Think about A1 mini. Bed sheets are half the price.
Excellent point! It's interesting though that the people working in 3d printer shops are saying the same though...
I went through basically the same experience, though greatly abbreviated. I have a 3v2 that I finally got fed up with. It has a new extruder feeder, flexible bed plate, CR Touch, and mriscoc firmware. When it prints, it's OK. When it doesn't print, it's terrible. I ordered a Prusa and am waiting for it to ship.
"soul destroying Creality printers" Yup, 100% accurate description. Would NEVER touch their crappy printers again. Absolute minimum effort garbage. My first printer was also an Ender 3. It scarred me badly enough to put me off for a year or two. Went through everything you went through.
I guess I got lucky because my Ender 3 Pro (bought in 2019) is still going strong without too much maintenance. I really want to buy a new, fast, smart printer, but I don't print enough to justify it when I have a working one.
Great video! From one Aussie to another… mate, you should’ve gone with a Prusa! I’ve clocked over 3,000 prints on my MK4/S with only five failures-most of them down to user error. Can’t beat that reliability!
Thanks Ethan! I did notice that Prusa was pretty damn good for reliability, not sure why I didn't really consider that brand...maybe in the future? :D
@@LayerLabAustralia Prusa is the original pioneer of 3D printers and the inventor of the bed-slinger style design. Saying you haven’t heard of Prusa in the 3D printing world is like saying you’ve never heard of Ford in the automotive industry. Many other companies, like Creality with their Ender 3, are essentially budget-friendly imitations of Prusa. While Prusa printers may cost about five times more, the difference is clear-they’re reliable, high-quality machines that just work! Just like a Toyota. PS I am from WA it totally sucks how WA state gov totally banned gel blasters (mainly because of a few idiots ruining it for the others) peace out Ethan, Perth WA
I’m so glad I bought a Sovol SV06 for my first printer. I feel like if I started with an Ender I would have given up the hobby all together 😂
No you would be a master at 3d printers, able to solve any problem on any printer, even able to build one yourself from scratch.
1st printer Ender3. Works fine! Can't compare to today's printers, agree, but they were the Bambu lab in their time!
Definitely shows that Creality's quality is hit or miss. I have a KE myself for 1 year now and has worked flawlessly. I recently bought the micro swiss hotend just for a little more reliability but it's bone stock for the rest. If I'm going for a second one it's for sure going to be a P1S or X1 but I'm still sticking with that KE
I luckily got the v3 se not the original ender 3 knowing nothing about them lol. Much better experience and now I have 2 prusa machines